SCREEN PRINTING

Screen printing is a great process for larger orders of the same image printed.  Minimum order for screen printing is 25.

Screen printing uses blocks of solid colors.  When screen printing, a seperate "screen" is required for each color in the design.  So a design with 4 colors in it will need 4 screens.  This can make screen printing in many colors uneconomical and digital printing might be a cheaper option. Because of this we have a maximum of 3 colors when screen printing. 

You can combine garment sizes, but the print size of the design  will be the same on all garments.  If the print size is changed, for example made smaller for youth shirts and larger for adult shirts,  then this counts as a separate print run and would require screens for each size.

DTG PRINTING

An alternative to screen printing is digital printing or direct to garment (DTG) printing as it is sometimes known and works in the same way as an inkjet printer but uses t-shirts instead of paper. 

There is no set-up and is perfect for low numbers – the minimum order is just one! No heavy ink feel.  The image cannot be felt  when printed on a white shirt and is much less heavy than screen printing when printed on a dark shirt.

What sets it apart from other printing processes  for garments is that it can produce much higher resolution prints, with great detail. DTG is great for artwork with gradients and shading and for the printing of photos.  Of course the quality of the file used will determine the quality of the print.  Files should be at least 300dpi with a transparent background are best to use such as psd, tif, png & esp files.  If you send a file with background color (like a jpeg with a white box behind it) we will need to remove it before printing.

We can print on all colors of shirts. The quality of the t-shirt does has a direct effect on the quality of the prints that can be achieved and every t-shirt brand will print in a slightly different way.

100% cotton t-shirts with a tight weave are the best to use.  We have preselected the best brands to ensure the best print quality.  Even our cheapest shirt option, the Fruit of the Loom HD, print very well. Using 100% cotton shirts have no printing limitations.  You can even use up to an 80/20 split and still be ok.

Polyester blends can be printed on, but there is one limitation.  No white ink can be used. If you are printing an image with white in it, it will be best to use a white shirt.  You can choose to use a light colored shirt, but the areas where white ink would normally be would instead be the color of the shirt being used because that area would have no ink.  Because no white ink can be used on polyester shirts, the shirt colors are limited to either white or light in color.  The darker the color shirt the muddier the ink colors will look.  Black and dark inks are best to use on a color shirt.  Light ink colors (ie yellow, pale pink) should be used on white shirts.

DTF PRINTING

DTF means Direct to Film.  The process is done with the same machine that prints DTG except in this process the ink is printed to a transfer film.  Once printed and before the ink is dry a powder adhesive is applied to the image area.  The transfer is then heat pressed on to the shirt.  This process has a heavier feel than DTG printing because the print sits on top of the fabric.  The great thing about DTF is that there is no limitations on the type of fabric you can use, polyesters included.

CARE

Best care practices ensure the longevity of the image.  Best to hand wash & lay flat to dry.  Machine washing: Wash inside out on gentle setting in cool water.  Machine dry:  light tumble on no to low heat.  Remove from dryer immediately to ensure the image does not stick to itself or crease.